Independence is defined as freedom from control.  America declared its independence as a sovereign nation in the year 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was signed.

In more recent years, we as a people have given up our independence in the name of security.  Now, as the government has learned to enjoy and even thirst for the taste of more and more control over its citizens, we Americans are learning what it’s like to live in a dictatorship with Soviet-style interference in our daily lives and rapidly disappearing freedoms.

Instead of freedom of speech, we have “free speech zones.”  Instead of freedom of religion, we have freedom to follow the conservative Christian movement or be damned.  Instead of a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, we have a self-indulgent theocratic plutocracy.  Instead of being a melting pot of cultures, people and religions, we are a repressive elitist régime which readily forces the beliefs of the few on the many.

Wake up, America.  As you celebrate this Independence Day, stop and ask if you’re really independent anymore.  I can personally assure you that we’re not.  We can commemorate the significance of this date, but we can no longer claim we’re a free people — and we certainly have no right to celebrate our “independence” until we get it back.